Two days ago, I posted about my goal of launching a product (term used loosely) each month, and about my hope of profitability.

I thought I would be easy on myself this first month so I started with this blog. (I realize as I say this that this in itself isn’t easy; I had started several blogs in the past only to stop after a couple of weeks. Some people don’t even get to writing their first post.)

I wasn’t really looking at making money on this blog, but I have heard of affiliate marketing for a while now, and I thought: what if I can monetize some of my content here? There’s really only a few ways where one can profit from blogging:

1. Advertising – think Google AdSense and banner ads on my site and you get the idea
2. Selling a product – either a physical one (merch!) or a digital one (like an online course)
3. Sponsored posts – you get paid to write about a particular topic or product
4. Affiliate marketing – this is when a blogger mentions certain products or services then links out to them. If a reader clicks on these and makes a purchase, then the blogger gets a commission.

I’ve been giving number 4 a lot of thought. My recent post about Zenni prompted me to check if they have an affiliate program, and they do! I just applied to their program and my application is still being reviewed. We’ll see how it goes.

I figured, I already recommend a lot of services and products (that I personally use) for free, so why not earn a bit while I do it?